Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941, out of nowhere, but some could see it coming.Pearl Harbor is an American naval base and airfield located in Hawaii. On December 7, 1941, it was attacked by Japan so fast that most people at the base were dead in just 2 hours. Today it is known as one of the greatest defeats in US history. But, what caused Japan to attack Pearl Harbor? Well, there were at least three reasons why the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.These were that the US had cut off their supplies, Japan wanting to be the new "Leader", and the US having stronger armed forces. One reason for the attack was Japan wanting to be the new leader like Germany was before WWI. In 1938 Japan declares its policy to establish a “new order in East Asia.” “An old order … (European and American) … is now crumbling.” (Document A)Which makes Japan want to be the new leader that Germany and America once were. Japan took advantage of America in a depression and Germany in the war. Japan wanting to be the new "leader" was one main causes of Japan attacking pearl harbor because they wanted to be stronger and more powerful leader like America and Germany once were. …show more content…
As a Prime Minister and War Minister of Japan stated "When I think about the strengthening of American defenses in the Southwest Pacific, the expansion of the American fleet, … I see no end to difficulties…. I fear that we would become a third-class nation after two or three years if we just sat tight."(Document E)This states that Japan was afraid that the United States could overturn Japan's plans for expansion. The US's strong navy was one of the causes of the attack on Pearl Harbor because the Japanese were afraid that the US navy could overpower their
Pearl harbor was attacked on December 7th, 1941,hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The attack lasted just two hours, but it was devastating: The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships, and more than 300 airplanes. The question is, why did the Japanese attack in the first place? Many factors lead to the attack on pearl harbor including: Imperialism, Nationalism , and Embargo.
Event #1 July 1937: the Japanese Army invaded North China from Manchuria. On the 24th of July in 1941 Roosevelt made a decision to cut off japans oil exports and other assets the United States were sending them. A few other countries also cut off exports to Japan to protest against them for invading China. As a result, Japan lost access to 75% of their overseas trade.
Dear President Truman, I am writing to you about dropping an atomic bomb in Japan that could potentially kill people. I understand that making a decision like this can be difficult which is why I have a few suggestions on why you should attack Japan with an atomic bomb. Japan wanted certain pacific islands such as Pearl Harbor and so they attacked on December 7th, 1941.
Lastly, although this point is nearly impossible to prove, if the Navy had shown a willingness to limit the number of offensive operations, they might have gotten more support from the Japanese Army. General Showa was not against naval operations in the pacific, but constantly worried that they Navy would require too much ground support. If the Navy fortified already taken ground, it might have eased the tension and mistrust between the services and allowed for a more joint operation at the strategic
entered the war for personal gain and national power. On the other hand, Schweikart and Allen attribute it to the Pearl Harbor attack. Zinn reports, “Japan’s strike against the American naval base climaxed a long series of mutually antagonistic acts,” such as the threat against U.S. markets by Japan’s invasion of China, and the U.S.’s embargo on certain products (Zinn 410-411). He also says the U.S. declared war on Japan not because of the threat to American citizens, but because of “the Japanese attack on a link in the American Pacific Empire” (Zinn 410). Schweikart and Allen agree hostilities started long before the attack and led to it.
All of these reasons created tension between the two countries and led to Japan attacking Pearl Harbor. Japan wanted more power. From an excerpt of The Way of the Subjects (required reading in Japanese schools), “An old order…(European and American)…is now crumbling. The ideals of Japan … are represented by the principle that the benevolent rule of the Emperor may be
December 7th, 1941, at 7:48am, the Empire of Japan “deliberately and suddenly” attacked the Navy at Pearl Harbor. The United States of America was at peace with Japan until the horrific event. Eight naval ships were docked at Pearl Harbor filled with many men and women. Four Navy Battleships were damaged while the other four were sunk with hundreds of brave sailors still buried alive and killing over 3,500 sailors overall. This event changed the world.
December 7th, 1941 the Imperial Japanese Navy air service bombed the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The military action was a surprise attack on the Americans. The action leads the United States into World War II, but this offense also triggered many different things. The Japanese Navy plan was to attack the United States and its allies to prevent an attack the United States had planned in southeast Asia. The Japanese attacks lasted seven hours with many different locations and sights intended to be the target.
Pearl Harbor was Japan 's way of showing the U.S. that they were done trying to make peace. President Roosevelt had been having meetings with Japan 's Minister of War to try to keep the U.S. out of the war (Sibilla). When Japan attacked the U.S. before declaring war, it ended the peace negotiations that everyone had hoped would become an agreement not to fight between the two countries.
In the beginning of World War II, the Japanese made the United States go to war due to the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. They wanted to bomb the Pearl Harbor to try to make the US surrender because Japan and the US were arguing about taking over China. Also, we had all of the oil rich areas, therefore, Japan wanted to take over those because they were running low on oil resources. The Japanese was planning to bomb the United States at Pearl Harbor for a while because they realized that the bombs that were first invented had to dive down into the water so far before coming back up and destroying the ships.
Japan and America were having problems before the attack was even planned. Japan wanted to take over the Chinese import market and declared war on China. America wasn't happy about it so they teamed up with the British to stop importing oil to Japan .When Japan figured that out they planned a surprise attack on America but america isn't the only country that was attacked japan also attacked hong kong,philippines,guam and singapore .the date of pearl harbor is december 7th 1941 pearl harbor lead a major change in the war it caused the u.s to join and that made a huge impact because of america's great military we helped the british ,france,soviet union and many other countries during the war .
In conclusion, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because of their nationalist mentality, America’s embargo of oil to Japan and fearing that the United States will attack them first. The first reason why Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor was because the Japanese had nationalistic and narcissistic political mentality. The Japanese believed the Yamato race was a superior race to the other Asian race(Document A). They also believed they will become the “new order” once Europe and America crumble and become the “old orders”(Document A).
On December 7, 1942, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor at 6:00 am. The effect of the bombing of Pearl Harbor on America was our entrance of the US into WWII, our nation’s finances going towards the war, and Japanese people being sent to internment camps. The attack on Pearl Harbor caused America’s entrance in the war, because America did not have many big intentions prior to it. America wanted to help the Allies but did not want to
In May 1940 President Roosevelt moved the US Pacific Fleet from California to Pearl Harbor. In July of the same year the US Congress passes the Naval Expansion Act which promised to triple the fleet size by 1944(Doc C). This gives evidence that the US did not stop at a simple embargo on aircraft. It demonstrates that the US was keeping a close watch on Japanese affairs so that they could be ready to attack if they needed to. The Japanese were aware of the actions being taken by the US.
Japan wanted to attack Pearl Harbor in a definitive way. They wanted to prevent the United States Pacific Fleet from interfering with its planned military actions in Southeast Asia against oversea territories of the United Kingdom. The article, “Pearl Harbor”. It states, “More than 2,400 died in the attack including, and another 1,000 people were wounded.” This explains how the attack on Pearl Harbor was intended to hurt the United States and they killed thousands of people.